


Nighttime Nightmares

by back2the_ocean



Series: Bedtime Blues [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Baby Ben and Vanya, Comfort, Dreams and Nightmares, Family, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Hugging, Literal Sleeping Together, Nightmares, Platonic Cuddling, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Vanya get a nightmare and Ben makes it better, sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:14:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26334712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/back2the_ocean/pseuds/back2the_ocean
Summary: Number Seven gets a nightmare. Number Six helps her go to sleep again.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: Bedtime Blues [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936480
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	Nighttime Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ViridescentShade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViridescentShade/gifts), [cbuugdrama9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cbuugdrama9/gifts), [Sam-Writes (Oh_DAMNeron)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_DAMNeron/gifts).



> a friend on discord shared this https://www.instagram.com/p/CEi5pMyFEMn/?igshid=sdctbgfblhg3 and I got the urge to have baby ben and vanya sleep comfort each other.

There was a strange wailing sound coming from Seven’s room. It was soft and low and tugged at every one of Six’s heartstrings. 

It was just the two of them at home right now, the rest of the Academy having left for a mission only hours earlier. Six was left behind because of his broken arm, courtesy of a rough training session with One. Six didn’t mind too much — he didn’t care for the missions or having to use his powers. And with the broken arm, he was allowed to stay home with Mom and Seven.

But the sounds from Seven’s room weren’t stopping. In fact, they were getting more intense — not so much as louder as even more heart-wrenching. He wondered if this was something that always happened when the Academy left, having never heard her make that sort of sounds before. 

Six didn’t know what to do — Seven was the quietest of his siblings and usually, Five would be here to calm her down. Five wouldn’t comfort her — Six didn’t think Five knew the meaning of the word comfort — but just having Five near Seven was enough. That wasn’t happening now, obviously.

Six flipped over in his bed and did his best to ignore the sound. He wanted to get all the sleep that he could with the monsters being as quiet as they were. It was a rare night that he didn’t have a front-row seat to the Horrors but they had been very quiet since dinner. Mom had allowed the two of them to eat downstairs in the kitchen instead of the big formal dining room Father insisted on. It was one of the best dinners Six could remember. Mom made them animal-shaped pancakes with chocolate chips and she didn’t care that Six and Seven talked through dinner as long as it wasn’t with their mouths full. 

Six grinned into his pillow as he remembered Seven’s impression of One — she was so spot on and it was so unexpected that Six accidentally snorted milk out of his nose. Just the memory of it brought back a phantom pain. Seven had looked so pleased with his reaction that Six couldn’t be mad at her. Father had recently upped the dose of her medication and it was even rarer to see her smile that he didn’t want to get mad at her for it.

It was that memory — Seven’s innocent joy and the shy smile she sported — that made Six finally get out of his bed and over to Seven’s room. He was swift but quiet as he snuck out into the hall. He could never hear where Mom was in the building and she’d make him go back to his room, leaving Seven alone. He knocked as softly as he could so it was still audible but Seven was still keening. He made the decision to go in anyway. 

There were strict rules about going into each other’s room without permission but he didn’t think he’d get into much trouble.

He opened and closed her door slowly — it creaked horribly. He could hear every time it opened. He moved slowly across the room, hugging the wall to avoid Father’s cameras, carefully not lifting his feet too much. He didn’t want to step on anything in Seven’s room, especially not her new violin. It sounded awful, wailing worse then Seven was now but the other six siblings could see how much she loved the thing and Five had yelled at them the first time One had made Seven feel bad about her playing. That was enough honestly, but then Five and One were paired the next day for training, and Six made a promise to himself to never make Seven sad as One did.

He would never want to in the first place but Five’s grin as Father set the training partners was terrifying and watching One stagger down to the infirmary was concerning.

Six finally reached Seven’s bed and sat on the very edge of it. He didn’t want to crowd her and scare her when she woke.

Six gently ran his hand over her blanket, trying to find her shoulder to shake her awake. The soft wailing was worse right next to her, a slow and faint but constant. It was setting his teeth on edge and was stirring the Horrors. 

He shook Seven lightly. She gasped and jerked away as soon as he placed a hand on her. Six froze, watching her in the delicate light of the moon. She had pushed herself up against the wall tightly and it didn’t look like she was breathing, her eyes as wide as he’d ever seen them. They both sat there, listening to the house creak around them, watching each other not move. 

Six flipped his hands palm up, cleared his throat, “you were having a nightmare, Seven.”

“Oh,” her reply was so quiet it was almost lost to the sound of the wind passing the house. Six didn’t really know what to do now. He hadn’t planned for more than waking Seven up from her troubled sleep. But she looked so sad and terrified and tiny that the thought of just leaving hurt.

Seven was the smallest of all of them and the only one who wasn’t being trained to save the world. Six took a deep breath and murmured, “I...I could stay.” He coughed to clear his throat again, “I could stay with you until you fell asleep again? If you want?”

It was silent for a couple of minutes but Six didn’t move. He wasn’t going to presume he knew her answer. Eventually, he earned a small nod paired with a slight relaxation of her tense body. Six released the breath he didn’t know he was holding and slid, slowly, onto her bed. He stayed on the very edge and waited for her to lay back down.

It happened in increments but she made her way back into a horizontal position and turned to face him. He mirrored her, laying on his side and propping his head on his arm in lieu of a pillow. Neither of them was talking but Six hoped his presence was bringing her the same amount of peace he was feeling. 

He kept a diligent watch, not allowing his tiredness to swallow him. Seven’s eyes blinked more and more, longer and longer until she didn’t open her eyes again.

Six meant to only stay a couple of more minutes to make sure she didn’t have another nightmare but he slowly lost the time, falling asleep next to her. It was still night when he opened his eyes again but this time he was woken because of the weight on his chest. Seven and he had moved in their sleep, cuddling up against each other. Six found himself laying on his back with Seven pushed up against his side, her head under his chin. 

He took a deep breath but relaxed again. He didn’t want to move, feeling more relaxed then he could remember being, and seemed like Seven was ok with it. He shut his eyes and slept.

Neither of them had another nightmare that night.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me at my tumblr dcksdrgsdebutantes to talk and to see my character moodboards. also I have a tua discord - give me a shout if you'd like to join


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